Red Glare awoke the next morning at around six to the ear splitting sound of reveille being played on the bugle. He rolled off his cot and put his hooves down on the floor, still chilled by the early morning breeze. Glare brushed his teeth and put on his uniform. On the sleeve showed the symbol of his new rank, which the young stallion still thought he didn't deserve. In two hours time, Glare would take command of the best soldiers in the MLP. Glare thought this as he made his way out of his cabin, another perk that came with the new rank, and made his way to the mess hall. The Warlords would come later. Now came breakfast.

Glare entered the mess hall and was instantly hit by the delectable smell of waffles. Then depression hit as Glare noticed the long line to get food. His stomach growled in anger for not getting here sooner. The debate between stomach and brain was short lived, as a poke to the side snapped Red out of his thoughts. He turned to see a familiar lavender mare before him carrying two trays covered in food, one on each side of her. 'She must have saw me coming,' Red thought.

"Out of the hospital and I'm still bringing you food," she said with a smile.

"I know," replied Glare as he took one of the trays in his magical grasp. "If the nurse thing doesn't work out you'd make an amazing waitress Ms. Sparkle."

"I'm not dure if that was a complement but thanks. And don't be so formal Commander. You can call me Twi or Twilight. Everypony else does," the lavender nurse said with a smile.

"You're welcome then...Twi."

She let out a giggle before saying, "Let's find a place to eat. Shall we?"

"Yes, we shall," Red Glare replied as he took the second tray in his magical field. "You got the breakfast. The very least I could do is carry your tray Twilight."

The mare nodded and gave a greatful smile. One that set the young Commander's heart aflutter. The pair then walked together to an empty table in the corner of the mess hall. Once seated, Twilight broke the silence.

"So, ready for the big meet and greet today?" Twi said as she took a bite of her waffle.

"Ready as I'll every be," Red said as he copied Twilight. He chewed his food and swallowed before saying, "The thing is I'm not a leader Twi. I don't know the first thing about leading...anything!"

The nurse put he hoof on Glare's foreleg before saying in a comforting voice, "Don't worry Red, I'm positive you'll do fine. All you have to do is follow your heart and do what's right to you. If you do that, there's no way you can fail."

Glare sat back and his chair and thought about what the beautiful mare sitting across from him said. He knew she was right and as a smile slowly made it's way across the young Commander's face, he thought to himself, 'Wow. Beautiful and smart.'

"Thanks Twilight...I needed that," Glare said in a soft voice uncommon for him.

"Any time, I'm always here to talk."

The rest of the meal was filled with idle chit chat and stories of the old days before the war. She told him about her friends and their adventures from the defeat of Nightmare Moon up to the wedding of her brother and one of the princesses. He told her about his adventures with his friend Atom Vortex among other silly shenanigans. Time flew past and the food gave way to open space on the trays. The two ponies sat there, talking, enjoying each other's company. But, like all good things, their time together came to an end when the nurse checked the clock on the wall.

"I'm sorry to leave you but I need to get moving," nurse Sparkle said. She continued, "and so you."

A turn to the time piece showed that glare had 5 minutes until the appointed meeting time. "Shit your're right. Thanks for breakfast Twi."

"Don't mention it," she stated with a smile that the young Commander swore cold melt even the coldest heart. Twilight continued by saying with a giggle, "You can make it up to me this weekend."

The mare's words caused Red to blush before responding, "Uh...yeah...it'll be great. See ya Twilight!" With that Red Glare rushed out of the mess hall to meet his new troops.
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Many a thought rushed into glares head as he trotted at a brisk pace towards the parade grounds.

'What are the going to be like? Did they have any training? Are they going to get along and work together? Are they even going to follow my orders?!' By now the young stallion had long ago rustled his jimmies about the meeting but he knew he needed to calm himself down. And the way he went about doing this was to think about the instructions given to him not that long ago by the lavender nurse.

"...follow your heart and do what's right to you. If you do that, there's no way you can fail."

The tactic worked, but only for awhile. You see, if you ask any stallion what they think about concerning attractive mares, you'd understand why the yellow stallion became more rustled than before. So Red had to act fast. He did the only thing he could think of on such short notice: sing a song. What song did our brave hero sing you ask? Well only the theme song to the popular filly's show "My Little Human." Glare closed his eyes to concentrate and began his melody. Half way through he was interrupted by the sound of somepony clearing their throat. The Commander opened his eyes to see himself face to face with General Applejack herself. She clearly wasn't happy either. Behind her stood Glare's new squad, all at attention, clearly trying not to laugh at the folly of their new leader. Glare's yellow face became almost as red as his mane as embarrassment overtook him. Glare mentally scolded himself, thinking, 'Wow dumbass, way to make a first impression.'